Keeping It Frugal

My thoughts about life and money.

About Me

Laura

Through mis-management of my money in my early twenties I learned a lot of life lessons - both financial and personal. After 12+ years of teaching, and 3 years of working as a school-librarian, I moved to Nebraska and found a job outside of school/library with good benefits and okay pay. The move was mainly to pursue the possibility of a long-term relationship ...

Archive for April, 2016

So DH was talking to me about a lawnmower tonight and a weed whacker. We also will need a snowblower eventually.

DH has a bad shoulder, and so needs an electric start mower, and also wants a self propelled one. He's been looking at Honda mowers - one that starts at $420. I have no clue about mowers ... Any ideas? Suggestions? He thinks the Honda one would have very good resale value if we ever were to let go of it. (I asked him about used ones - he said the used ones were almost as much as the new ones.)

Also looking at a weed whacker. What would you recommend for that?

What other tools are essential for lawn care?

What could be done without?

I seriously have no clue when it come to yard/lawn equipment .. other than rakes.

What about gardening tools? What is essential? Best?

---
Update on DSIL - Surgery went well. She was sleeping when we stopped by (with flowers and a card) but we spoke with her nurse. It most likely is a blood infection stemming from her dog biting her. (She was walking around in the dark and stepped on him.) They'll know more about the infection by tomorrow evening.

I was wanting to post last night, but kept getting an error message for the blogs! I was very glad this morning when I was able to get on with no issue.

--
Thursday night Mr FT got several texts from his nephew. He was telling him that Mr FTs sister was in the ICU!

During the wedding weekend, his sister, S, had told him that she'd been bit by her dog earlier that week. Also that she had a weird spot on her arm.

It turns out that the weird spot was some kind of blood infection!! She didn't go to the doctor until Wednesday ... They sent her home with some antibiotics and painkillers. On Thursday they got the results of the blood tests back, and told her to come back to the hospital.

At this point, she also had a weird spot on one of her legs.

We found out last night that she is going to be having surgery (now, actually) to clean out the blood infection. We'll be going to visit her later today after she has a chance to recuperate from the surgery and is up to visitors.

Goes to show that you just never know when something is going to happen!

--
My goals this weekend are pretty much to get thank you notes written and get my apartment looking less like a whirlwind hit it. (As Mr FT so helpfully intoned when he came over on Thursday - he apparently had no memory of what it looked like on Sunday after bringing in everything from the wedding ... )

I also need to figure out what to do with the leftover cut up veggies before they go bad - there's at least one full veggie tray, plus another large container. A week old now ... I've managed to eat most of the leftover fruit for lunches at work last week.

---
I signed the paperwork for the home warranty plan after work yesterday. Also made sure that my mortgage broker J knew that we had home insurance lined up.

A little less than two weeks til closing!

I plan on asking J how long he can make it before our first mortgage payment is due. We'll be having to pay rent and utilities on two places through June. So it would definitely be helpful to not have to pay the first mortgage payment on top of that.

Just one week left of work til a whole week off! Plus, the Branson trip of course.

--
I'm still in recovery mode. Had two days of being at work as a married woman. Been trying to get used to writing my new initials in the receipt book. My email address got an alias now, and that confused a few people. So, I had to share the good news.

Mr FT and I opened a joint account on Monday evening. A funny story - we drove there in two cars because he was going to have to leave for work right away. When we got there, we did a quick smooch before heading in. Coming out of the credit union was an old man.

He shouted at us to keep the PDA's out of the public view. Mr FT told him that we'd just gotten married on Sunday and couldn't help it.

The old man shouted back, "Happy New Year!" ???? LOL

--
I got my engagement ring and wedding ring resized and soldered ? together. They also shined them up really nice. It was so strange to have the engagement ring off my finger, even if only for less than 24 hours. It's funny how fast you get used to something.
_---It cost $128 to resize and solder. (almost as much as the wedding band itself cost ...)

I haven't added up ALL the costs, but I think we came close to breaking even. We had $2500 gifted to us before the wedding, and received slightly more than $1k in cash/checks + some more in gift cards.

If you include a full $500 for the photographer, it comes out to about $2800. I expect to spend probably another $100 - $150 for printing photos. Probably add in another $100 or so for expenses I forgot to include (haven't kept the best track ...) and we're still under what we were gifted.

After one night at the b&b, the CA group, minus my brother, decided to stay somewhere else. Their excuse was that the stairs were too much for my grandma. That may have been a valid reason, but I tend to think there was more to it than that.

I learned of this just as I was walking into church. Then while in church, as I was loading up the Bible on my phone, I got a text from my mom. It was telling me that she'd been told that she might not like it there and might want to go somewhere else.

Needless to say, once I was alone that afternoon, Mr FT had to talk me carefully away from the edge.

Mom ended up deciding to stay at the b&b.

Something that didn't affect me directly - Mr FT's sister's boyfriend's youngest son who was dying of cancer - they decided to take him off life support Saturday night. So, the boyfriend obviously didn't come to the rehearsal or wedding.

Then there were the things that slipped through the cracks in my planning and / or in remembering what to bring. Such as ... knowing where the college cafeteria was located before taking a group there for lunch ... Or ... remembering to tell my uncle about the Shoe Game *before* the reception AND bringing a suggested list of questions ... Then of course the Unity ceremony ... I kind of over complicated it. By the ceremony, it worked out fine, but I think it got people confused.

---
Saturday night - the dinner started 30 minutes late because people showed up late. We only had 11 people, and there were 5 on time...

Because of the small number, we used several big long tables instead of separate round tables. I think that worked out very well to help facilitate conversation.

The rehearsal itself was a bit chaotic, and due to Mr FT being very tired by the time we'd ran through it a 3rd time ... we didn't go over the reception at all. Which is partly why the Shoe Game was a surprise to my uncle. And luckily, when it came time for the cake cutting, Mr FT just followed my lead.

After the rehearsal, Mr FT and all but those staying at the b&b left. My mom, my brother, and my Ohio aunt and uncle stayed up teaching the Ohio aunt how to play Rook. After awhile, they went to bed. My mom, brother and I stayed up talking. Then later went to a grocery store for water and snacks.

I got to my room around 12:30 a.m. Managed to get maybe two hours of sleep.

--
Sunday morning it was raining and thundering til nearly 7 a.m. I was really worried the Model A car wouldn't come.

We ate a lovely breakfast provided by the b&b for guests. Then my brother went on some errands for me, and I got ready for the hair and makeup ladies.

I think my mom enjoyed having her hair and makeup done. (Her first time being airbrushed!) The ladies commented that it was nice how relaxed the morning was - prompted probably by my telling my mom that whatever made her happy, made me happy as far as hair/jewelry, etc. Plus my brother came up several times with different things for me.

I got a little panicky once the hair and makeup were done .. because it was now 5 minutes into the time we were supposed to be doing our first look, and I wasn't even dressed!

My mom helped me get dressed (made me take off my fitbit!) My brother had to help do the top hook though ... it was a *wee* bit tighter than I had remembered.

Around this time I was told that the Model A had arrived and it was really cool!

Mr FT and I had our first look - he was amazing!

We took lots of pictures with the Model A car. So many, that we started to *really* get behind in our schedule.

Finally we went inside and started taking the family photos. About 12:10 non-family guests started arriving ... Also, Mr FTs back was really hurting. So I had him sit down and then we took pictures of just me with various family members. I cut out probably 1/4 of the photos I'd been thinking about ... Then Mr FT took photos with his family (only his sister and nephew were there.)

It was 12:20 now! My brother and I headed upstairs. Then my brother told me to wait there, and he'd be right back. When he came back he had something in his hand. He'd taken some of dad's ashes and some dirt from the b&b garden and mixed it together - so dad was with us in a way. I nearly lost it right there. So very sweet of him.

Right at 12:30 Edelweiss started and we headed down the stairs to meet my groom.

Overall, the ceremony went very well. The only small glitch was that T, Mr FTs nephew started the We've Only Just Begun song too late .. I signaled him to x-nay it.

We had lots of comments about my brother's singing - he did a knock out fantastic job of God Bless This Broken Road.

--
Did you know that there isn't anywhere for the bride and groom to sign on the marriage certificates on the actual day? I guess I hadn't looked at them closely enough ..

After the signing was done, Mr FT and I were left alone for a little bit to breathe. While we were waiting to be called for the reception, I heard my phone beep. It was a text from the lady who was going to video the ceremony - she'd been in a car wreck and totaled her car! I hadn't even realized she hadn't come! I had to reassure multiple times that I wasn't upset - just glad she was ok!

Finally we were called down for the reception. We made our grand re-entrance, had some toasts (Mr FTs sister and nephew both spoke - which I was really glad for!) and then a little more drama.

My aunt came by our table and asked if we'd like her to get plates for us. We both told her thanks, but we'd like to get it ourselves. Not ten seconds after saying that, my mom shows up with two plates of food. Oops.

We both ate a few bites, but then I realized that time was getting away from us, and we needed to "mingle." Mr FT was a trooper (at least at the time) as we made the rounds.

About the time we were on the next to last person, my brother asked me if we were ready to cut the cake. So we moved over to the food room and did the cake cutting.

This was about the time I realized that I hadn't told my uncle about the Shoe Game - which we were to play while my Aunt cut the cake... Luckily he was able to catch on pretty quickly, and even got audience participation (no inappropriate questions thankfully!) Everyone seemed pretty impressed that we both were pretty in sync with our answers.

Next everyone got their cake / dessert and moved into the foyer for the slideshow. (this was another piece of drama - the projector guy realized that the picture would NOT show up on the wall, so he ran back to the church and got a screen) The slideshow/video last just under 12 minutes. I *think* people enjoyed it.

After that we headed to the carport for a group photo. Just as we were finishing, the first few drops of rain could be felt.

Mr FT and I at this point were supposed to go upstairs and change. Never happened - too many people wanted to talk to us!

At one point we were ushered out of the carport (where we were talking with his nephew) and then ushered back ... where we found my car decorated and filled with balloons! All the doing of my brother he'd had it completely cleaned out and detailed too. (badly needed!)

I had planned on doing the cleanup myself with Mr FTs help, but my family pretty much took care of everything while we were doing more mingling.

By about 4:15 we scooted upstairs and changed. I came back downstairs to see if there was anything left to do. Not much at all.

Mr FT came down about 15 minutes later (he'd laid down to rest his back.) We started working on hauling stuff out to the cars. I got waylaid a few more times into conversations - Mr FT was starting to get really frustrated (he'd had NO sleep)

Finally we said our final goodbyes and made it to my place about 5 p.m. Where after putting away the perishables (Oh my, the leftovers ....) we fell onto my bed utterly and completely exhausted for the next 5 hours.

During this time I did get the first opportunity to use the phrase "check with my husband first" (in regards to an appointment with the will & trust guy for the conference - a free thing!)

Today I need to take back the tux, and will be having lunch with my mom here soon. We might also open up our joint checking this afternoon (if Mr FT gets up early enough.)

So now after having survived all that, here is your reward ... (These were taken by family)

My mom and her brother in law - just thought this was a really cool picture.

On this, my last full day of being a single lady, I wish all my fellow SA'ers a beautiful day!

--
The last few days have been crazy busy and full.

Thursday when I got out to my car after work, I had a voicemail from the owner of the Bed and Breakfast. In a slightly stressed voice I was told that the Ohioians had made their arrival TWO DAYS EARLY without reservations. Their phone wasn't working here, so they'd asked her to contact me to let me know.

As I heard this, I was on my way to the other side of town for my pedicure appointment. After which I needed to do some more shopping at Walmart, and then had plans with Mr FT after he got off work.

I called back and talked to my Aunt D. Both her and Uncle D were happy to just chill for the evening. I invited them both to come with us the next day to see the house and go out to eat.

--
At the pedicure, I found out why the manicure was so abysmal. Apparently at the beauty school they are not allowed to do anything such as clipping nails or cuticles. Anything that could *possibly* draw blood.

So ... the pedicure also was not great. Although it sure took a dandy long time. (And it started peeling last night ...)

--
Friday morning I met C, at the church where she gave me the decorations and the teacup mugs. She also sweetly offered a prayer for me.

Then I did some more shopping. At one point while I was on the phone with Mr FT, a huge chip came off one of my fingernails. That was it for me - I had to get a real manicure!

So, that's what I did once I got done with the shopping. SO much difference!

---
Although I was pretty darn tired at this point, I needed to put together everything in a somewhat organized fashion to take to the B&B.

Took me the better part of two hours (including a mis-guided adventure into attempting to make a $3 Unity Candle - resulting in cutting my thumb ...)

Finally, with all non-food items loaded into my car, I headed over to the B&B. Just before I got there, I got a call from my brother telling me that they'd JUST gotten their rental car and were leaving O.

What? I'd expected them to have been in L by this point. Breathe, Laura, breathe.

--
I go into the B&B and talk to my aunt and uncle from OH. My aunt helps me carry in the tux and dress and hang them in their room. Then she shows me the rag quilt she made for us! (In less than a month!)

I carry in the rest of the stuff and put it in N's office. Then ... I look at the tables the rental company had brought and have a moment of panic.

N calmly suggests that I call the rental company and ask if they could switch them for bigger tables. Which is what I did, and what they did. (for a half-delivery fee, plus extra costs of tables - about $30 total.)

Around this time, the CA group came in. I really hope I didn't hurt my Ohio Aunt/Uncle's feelings by the way I greeted my brother.

We got everyone situated in their rooms, and then I realized what time it was, and had to somewhat gently/urgently get everybody to move on it!

We had an appointment at the house with the seller at 4:30. We left the B&B at 4:18 ... Thankfully Mr FT arrived on time and could explain that we were running late.

We arrived at the house at 4:40. Everybody fell in love with the house.

Then we all went out to eat at Village Inn. It was SO funny - so much chatter before the food came. Then when the food came, there was nary a sound for a good 15 minutes. Everybody was ravenous I think.

(My grandma generously treated for everyone!)

After dinner we went back to the B&B. Although, on the way back, I saw my brother turn off the wrong way. I wondered what in the world?

Later I found out that grandma had noticed the Dairy Queen. And when grandma wants her ice cream, she GETS her ice cream. LOL! So did everybody else (me included - they brought back a blizzard for me .. I didn't have the heart to tell them that I couldn't really eat it since I'd be around people the next day ...) Mr FT ate most of it for me when I got back to my apartment (where he'd gone while I waited for the CA group to come back.)

---
Now I'm just doing a bit of relaxing before heading to pick up my OH Aunt/Uncle and my brother to go to Sabbath School. My grandma/Aunt/Uncle from CA will join us later.

Everybody, please think good thoughts about the weather tomorrow? It's calling for possible thunderstorms ... If it waits til after one, that would be just fine with me. Otherwise, we may not be able to do any outside pictures! Or pictures with the Model A!!

Mr FT and I discussed the plan offered by S, the person our Realtor suggested. It has a $2k deductible, and a $713/yr premium. My car insurance (with Mr FT as a second driver) will be about what I pay right now - but by having it bundled with the home insurance, we get a good sized discount on the home insurance.

We're going to have to do a bit more sluething on Mr FTs auto insurance. S did some digging, and wasn't sure how Mr FT has his car insured as a pizza delivery driver. (As in, many insurance companies won't insure pizza delivery drivers.) Mr FT is going to do some looking into it tonight at work to see what's up. (He is insured, and assumed that the same policy he had when he owned/operated the pet store worked for him as a delivery driver.)

--
Work was okay today up to the last 30 minutes. Then just UGH! Callers who won't accept an answer as THE answer and keep pushing and pushing. Reconciling the cash and being over $8 (1 pass worth) and staying ten minutes late to figure out what happened (figured it out.)

Then the tux place doesn't have Mr FTs tux yet - we were going to try it on tonight to make sure there weren't any needed changes. But now he's going to have to go by himself tomorrow. I can't go with him because I have my pedicure appointment on the other side of town. Let's hope it fits well.

--
Mr FT found some pliers which he thinks will work to cut the flower stems, and will bring them over tomorrow night.

I am SO tired. I am SO happy/excited about the weekend and family and getting married, but at the same time, I'm SO ready for it to be over.

I am really hoping I'm going to fit into my dress... been doing some stress eating ... not good ...

If this manicure lasts through Sunday looking presentable, I'll be surprised. Already had a chip on one of my pinkies.

---
Here's the flower arrangement in the teapot I was given by C, the lady who threw the bridal shower for me. (With bent stems)

So a few weeks ago I bought a Groupon for 3 mani/pedi's from the local beauty school. 3 of them for about 35% of the price at a regular place.

Today I had my first 1/2 of the mani/pedi - the manicure. The girl was very nice and friendly and really tried hard. But ... part of the reason I was going for someone else to do my nails, was to have my cuticles taken care of .. and other than pushing them back, she did nothing with them.

It was a very basic manicure, one that I could have pretty easily replicated on my own. (I don't do my cuticles, have had one too many oops doing them myself.) Still, it did turn out looking nice, just not quite what I was expecting.

--
After I was done, I headed to Walmart. I bought 6 bottles of Welch's Sparkling Grape Juice for toasting, a variety of teas for the reception, a combination photo album/signature book *$9!* for the guest book, some fake flowers to put in the teapot we were given for our sweetheart table centerpiece, and some other miscellaneous items. Spent nearly $100!

--
I didn't realize that cutting fake flower stems was so difficult ... I'd bought one of those styrofoam disc things to put them into, and to put into the teapot. The flat round ball was too big ... so I had to cut it down.

Then I tried cutting the stem of the longest flower with a pair of scissors. Nope. Wasn't happening. Finally got it "cut" with a knife.

I'd planned on cutting ALL of them down so they'd be more even with the top of the teapot. But after my first attempt, decided to try without cutting. They look okay, but I'm hoping to figure out what I need to use to cut them!

Wire cutters?

--
I don't think I'm going to manage to get my apartment very clean before Friday. I had been thinking of having the CA contingent eat lunch here on Saturday ...but, yeah, no. Maybe I'll let them come in long enough to meet Kari. Otherwise, we can eat the the cafeteria on the local SDA college campus. My grandma would really like that. (That's what we do when I visit her in CA.)

Only two more days of work! (Well, the paying kind of work at least.)

--
I paid off the cake today, and the table/linen delivery people also.

*Note to self - have a $5 bill to give to cake people on Sunday (the lady charged me $5 less than she was supposed to, so I told her I'd give them $5 on Sunday.)

Most of what expenses are left now will be paying the bed and breakfast fees (she's not charging anything until all is said and done - will probably be the $245 fee, plus two room rentals since one couple isn't coming that we'd planned on.) The makeup fee. (Hair is already paid in full.) The other half of the photography fee (but he doesn't want that until he gives us the photos.) Then probably 3 meals out with varying groups of people - two times with the CA contingency, and once with the TX/OH group.

I do still need to get the salad fixings for Saturday night, pay for the pizza, buy the ice cream and rootbeer ... and ?? That may be it.

I think I've decided to not do programs. Is that bad? I'd kind of put together one, but every time I'm out somewhere I might get paper for it, I keep forgetting it. Maybe Thursday when I get the salad stuff, if I see some for a good deal that I like ..

I haven't been keeping perfect track of all wedding related expenses, but I think we are on track to come in under $3500, even with the eating out group expenses (which I hadn't put in my budget plan at first.) That isn't including the honeymoon. Although that I don't think should come in much more than $1k, if that.

This weekend I called Geico, with whom I've had my car insurance for 15+ years to get a home insurance quote and also find out what it would cost to add Mr FTs car to my policy.

The auto insurance person I spoke with was great. Very helpful. I have no complaints about him.

The home insurance person I spoke with was great at first. But then when she figured out that I was only looking for a quote (after I repeatedly said that numerous times...) she got all pushy.

When I told her that I'd been told to not go for any quotes over $950/yr, she told me "but we're offering $10k sewer backup - nobody else will give you that."

I firmly told her thank you, but that I wanted to do some more checking around. She wasn't a happy camper.

(My quote was $1160/yr. for $179k replacement. I think the wood stove in the basement and fireplace probably didn't help the cost estimate.)

Today I got an email telling me that I have a $2.11 bill for my car insurance. So I'm guessing that they've already put Mr FT on my policy? Or changed my zipcode? I'm not sure it's worth a phone call right now or not- my minutes are being eaten up this month majorly.

--
I've emailed a couple other places about home insurance and am waiting to hear back from them.

---
Last night Mr FT and I booked our hotel for our honeymoon! We both agreed that normally we'd go for the cheapest room, but decided this was worthy of a splurge. So we went with the 1 bedroom condo w/kitchenette on the lakeside. 3 nights will be just a bit less than $300 with taxes and fees. (Plus getting 8 SBs per dollar back.)

We also explored what shows are going on that week, and found a few we could agree on. We haven't bought any tickets yet though.

---
I worked on the seating plans today ... and realized that didn't have enough spots for all the people! The rental place called, and while I was on the phone with them I asked how much it would cost to upsize one of the tables - $2. Go for it!

One other thing Mr FT and I worked on last night (with a bit of grumbling from him at first) was writing out the place cards. I wrote messages inside of each place card for my family members, and then wrote what Mr FT dictated to me for his. I hope everyone likes it! (This was possible since we only have 20 people coming. More than that, and it may have been a bit overwhelming.)

---
The money from stocks and ROTH have hit my checking account. Now it'll sit there until time to do a huge cashier's check ... At least it will be earning a little bit of interest until May 12. (2.5%)

---
My allergies seem to have lightened up some here this week. Knock on wood that the trend continues. At least through Monday of next week.

Today I called the bakery and ordered a cupcake to go with the cake - to give to the owner of the vintage car as a thank you.

I also made two! appointments to have a mani/pedi - one for the mani, and one for the pedi. Not ideal by any means, but the only way I could do it without taking off of work.

I found out that J had been waiting to hear back from me about the inspection before going forward with the appraisal. Oops! I didn't have my debit card with me for the correct account, so will do that tomorrow.

After work I picked up a card from the Dollar Store for S who is retiring tomorrow. He's not even 55 years old! My hero!!

When I got home, I called my brokerage firm and got the ball moving on the ROTH transfer. By Friday I should be able to move all the money to my bank account.

THEN I finally wrote out and addressed all the thank you cards from the Bridal shower. 9 days later isn't too late, is it? Better late than never? .... I'll take them to the post office tomorrow.

Am now taking a slight breather before working on some cleaning that needs to be done.

I finally pulled the trigger on selling the stock on Monday. They sold at 251, and this morning they open at 249 .. so maybe good timing?? I think it will still be another day or two before I can move the money though.

I tried moving my money from my ROTH, but there is a $45 debit from when I transferred the ROTH from Trowe - so can't do it without making a phone call. How annoying! Why they can't just take the $45 out automatically ... Ugh. At least I'm not in a time crunch.

--
Last night I checked my Amazon registry and saw that someone had bought the InstaPot for us! When I looked to see who it was, I was very conflicted. It was my mom's most recent ex-guyfriend. They're breakup wasn't pretty. I called her and asked her what she wanted me to do - she told me to just accept it graciously. So ... I guess I'll do that.

--
I had a dentist appointment yesterday. No cavities! yay!

Afterwards I stopped at Shopko to see if they had any tennies in my size at a reasonable price. I thought I had found a pair, but when I got to the checkout counter, found out they weren't wide width. Boo!

I did however find a new pair of dress pants that fit well and were reasonably priced (only due to a sale price!) and two tops (also on "sale") One of the tops I know I'll keep - the other one I need to try with the skirt I'm always trying to figure out what to wear with. Maybe I'll try it on and post a photo here and see what you all think ... I love the skirt, it's just so hard to find a color/top that works with it.

--
The wedding is just 11 days away ... yikes yikes yikes! I'm looking forward to seeing my family, but am also nervous about whether I'll have everything put together in time or not. I'm also hoping that my allergies aren't going to be making me miserable that weekend ... like they currently have been ...

---
I think Mr FT and I have decided to leave the majority of the flooring in our new house alone. We will take out the carpet in the bathrooms and replace with some kind of wet resistant flooring, but otherwise wait and see if the other flooring will truly be a problem. It was, as I found out, only installed a few months ago. That would be such a waste to pull it up without giving it a chance first.

---
I helped Mr FT with his taxes the other night. He's getting a nice bit back. Between that, and his inheritance check, we're going to be able to take a big chunk out of his medical and student loan debt, even with taking some of it to fund "present" and "future."

I also was reading the instructions for the 1095 form, and it mentioned something about if you need to make different allocations due to a marriage in the year. So it sounds like the IRS planned for circumstances similar to ours. That gives me hope for our taxes next year - that they're not going to be a mess or a lot owed.

--
Along with my allergies being bonkers, I've been having a really sour stomach the last few days. The only thing I can think of is that I've eaten some fried foods that I don't normally eat, plus been drinking more soda. So .. no more soda and no more fried foods! Hopefully the sour will go away soon ...

We had our house inspection this afternoon! R, our inspector was pretty awesome I think. He had spent a couple hours going through the house before we got there checking everything out. Then with us there, he took us through everything and pointed out a huge variety of things.

He told us that overall, the house is in very good shape. The main concern is the 23 yo water heater .. There was SO much information ... but he's going to be writing a 17 page report with the same info so we can refer back to it when we need to.

We told C, our agent ... Go ahead! None of the issues raised by R are anything we can't easily do ourselves (well, with a little help from youtube ...)

One thing we found out was that the couple selling the house have just had their 70th!! wedding anniversary! The husband is turning 95 soon. We were SO off - we thought they were maybe mid to late 70s at most.

They also are the original owners - they designed the home themselves - back in 1952. The husband custom made the cabinets (he's way into woodworking.)

I didn't get any photos today - just way too much to take in to also take photos. But I will take some soon!

---
One thing R told us was about the flooring used in the kitchen/formal dining room/hallways - it's a wood vaneer? He basically said that you don't want to let it get wet, as it can ruin it quickly.

So ... um ... with all our cats, and possibly dogs in the future .. some with possible "issues" of the liquid variety .. We won't always be home to catch "issues" right away. So .. there's gotta be something we can put on it to protect it? Right?

--
So, our next hurdle is the appraisal. Then of course getting the stocks sold for the downpayment. (The T stock has been so UP and DOWN - wish I'd sold it on Wednesday!)

--
Just two weeks from now, and my brother/grandma/aunt will be here from California!

I still have SO much to do. I stopped at Dollar Tree and SuperSaver to get some napkins/plates/cups/plasticware for the rehearsal dinner/reception. I couldn't find the plates I wanted, so I might have to go to Party City for them.

I was going to stop at this new store FreshT for some great produce deals, but I hadn't eaten since lunch and was getting a sinus headache. Maybe I'll go there on Sunday after meeting with the photographer.

---
I finally made it to 100k points in the Achievemint app again. Sadly though, after I redeemed my points for my $100 gift card, I was told that I'd reached the max reward limit. So, I guess they only let you get 2 $100 awards.

This was a slow way to accumulate extra funds, but it was relatively simple and painless. So I'm sad to not have it as a tiny bit of extra motivation.

---
I probably should try to do my thank you notes tonight so I can hand most of them out at church tomorrow. Save on postage you know. That probably won't happen though, plus it might be kind of rude ... I don't know.

---
Question about homeowner's insurance and liability -- let's say we had a boat and it was within our fenced in yard. Some yahoos decide to climb our fence and get in the boat and goof off and end up getting hurt. Would we be liable? If so, would it be homeowner's insurance or liability for boat insurance that would cover it?

Mr FT and I were having a discussion about this today (as we were discussing where to check at for homeowner's insurance.) BTW - Anyone use Farm Bureau Insurance? R told us about it, and that they have only one deductible for whatever you have insured with them. (house, car, boat ..)

On Sunday I had my bridal shower. There was a nice sized group of ladies there. It felt really weird to be in the center of things ... Some of them thought it was funny that I looked for the card first before opening the gift - I told them that I'd been taught to always try to find the card first and thank the giver before you even know what the gift is. (We also usually give big hugs after opening ... but I didn't do that on Sunday.)

I got quite a few nice items - which made me glad I had spent the time on making the registries. I'd kind of wondered if that had been a whole lot of wasted time ..

--
Still helping Mr FT with his big project. Although tonight I had to tell him I needed a break. Hopefully it'll be mostly done by this Friday - otherwise I'm going to have to tell him he's on his own. I have to get some stuff done for the wedding!!

I checked in with the cake baker, the videographer, and the caterer on Monday and Tuesday to make sure everything was still good to go.

I need to write out thank you notes for all the gifts on Sunday (maybe take them to work with me tomorrow ...)

I am SO tired of having people argue with me about route information. SO TIRED!

--
The radon testing is getting set up at our house tomorrow so we'll have the results by Friday. C really made me roll my eyes today when he texted me to make sure we'd asked for radon testing. Uh yeah. It was in the offer thing, and I specifically specified it when talking to you ...

--
I'm really liking the plant based cooking class - I haven't had time to do TOO much with it yet, but mostly it's just reading background info / watching videos right now.

--
Mr FTs inheritance check looks like it may actually be coming in the next few weeks. We've been discussing what to do with it. My suggestion was 30% each to medical debt, present needs (landscaping), and future (retirement) and 10% to fun (his boat fund / 4 wheel vehicle fund probably). He's agreeable to the idea, but we haven't made any final decisions.

*Been very busy helping Mr FT with a huge project this week. Still lots to do, and not lots of time to do it in ..

*Signed the mortgage paperwork with J on Thursday. Inspections are scheduled for the 8th, and the appraisal will be after that.

*Debating on the timing of selling electric car stock (begins with T) and withdrawing from ROTH. The market has been SO topsy turvy. Especially the T stock.

*Aunt and Uncle (who paid for wedding dress) got their first T car - a the X one. Uber excited. My brother will get to drive it - lucky duck. (I could too, just would mean a California trip.)

(The above Uncle is the one who got my dads whole side of the family to invest in the T stock when it was still under $30.)

* Bridal shower is tomorrow! I'm not sure what to expect, since there is another bridal shower at the same time at the church! I wasn't expecting to even have one, so whatever happens, will be great!

*I've been coming up with many ideas/ways to spend money regarding the new house. Almost as bad as Mr FT with his landscaping/animals ideas. Good thing I have a strong penchant for keeping a strong EF! But will give ourselves a little bit of money to play with in setting up house.

*Finally had a Groupon deal come out for a mani/pedi. There seemed to be a dearth of them for awhile. Maybe because of it being winter? Anyway, I got a deal for 3 gel mani/pedis at a local beauty school for $43. Not too shabby I think. (One will be for wedding.)

*Got my interest for the Brink's account! 3 months worth at 5% - $57.68! I'm glad I decided to wait patiently and see if it would actually pay out 5%!

- Will now probably fund the Netspend card I opened a while ago, but got discouraged about actually using due to not having interest the first month show up. Will only put $40 on it to get the $20 bonus though. Later may put more on there.

* I started the Culinary PX program. I haven't gotten very far with it due to Mr FTs big project, but what I have seen so far, I like a lot. I think it's going to be well worth the $50.